Physical pain, emotional pain, mental pain, and heartache. Every human has to deal with these, some way or another. The sources of this suffering are the natural or physical world, the social world, the intellectual world and even the spiritual realm. I will call this kind of suffering, which is from any source and can affect us on any level, Ordinary Suffering.
One of the many things we don't like about Ordinary Suffering is that it is often meaningless, or it seems so. This refers to the particular kind of heartache that either drives one away from God, or to Him. It either embitters us with no hope in sight, or it humbles us and gives us hope.
Then, there is Christian suffering. The big difference between Ordinary Suffering and Christian Suffering is that the latter is never meaningless. For, what makes any kind of suffering have a meaning or purpose is how we react to it. The Christian is called to react to suffering in two very specific ways. What are they? See my book at Amazon.com, called How to Suffer as a Christian. God calls us to suffer well. Get the Scriptural answers we need.
C.A. Sparrow
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